Coal India

The power blackout in northern India on two days should not be dismissed or misjudged. Analysts are jumping to conclude that the crisis was foretold. They blame delays caused by environment and forest clearance procedures and demand winding down the regulatory framework so that we can re-energise ourselves. Their other favourite whipping horse is ‘free’ electricity to farmers, which is said to be crippling the state electricity boards. These explanations are naïve and mistaken.

According to the Press Information Bureau, 218 mines of Coal India Limited (CIL) are operating in violation to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006. These are pre-1994 mines when the EIA notification was not in place.

According to the Press Information Bureau, 218 mines of Coal India Limited (CIL) are operating in violation to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006. These are pre-1994 mines when the EIA notification was not in place. These mines never applied for clearance and are operating on renewal of lease basis. Ninety one of these mines belong to Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), 103 to Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), 20 to Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) and 4 mines to Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL).

The environment is holding up growth and economic development. This is the common refrain in circles that matter. So when the Group of Ministers tasked to resolve the issue of coal mining in forests asked for a report on what needs to be done, it was told that the best would be to dismantle green conditions, almost completely.